


Before Love Kills Me

by samiralula01



Category: My Dear Cold-Blooded King (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama & Romance, F/M, Flashbacks, Implied/Referenced Drug Use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-01 06:19:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18330344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samiralula01/pseuds/samiralula01
Summary: “If Fujioka can’t make the antidote in time, intervene.” Set after Episode 68, Kôzuke intervenes after Mei was poisoned, taking the matter of his bride’s well-being into his own hands.





	1. Time Changes

  _The pitch-black night was eerily calm, as a heavy silence overtook the tea-house room with nothing to be heard except for quiet feminine sobbing and the steady exhale of smoke. Even the third person in the room made no visible note of their presence, making one actually have to look up to see if the infamous second-hand was really there._

_“I...I didn’t know **she** was going to take it.” The girl cried, having sunk to her knees as she struggled to keep her tears silent, which fell onto her hands and dripped down her fingers._

_“Master, I am so sor—”_

_“I told you not to meddle.” A smooth, dark baritone voice cut her off, reverberating through the stone wall room, chilling in its ability to send shivers down the spine of anyone who was on the disapproving end of the sentence._

_“Please…please have mercy.”_

_A cold breeze swept through the tree branches outside, the leaves making a rustling noise as a tear fell onto the ground with the snake-tattooed man ordered her to come closer._

_Placing a hand underneath her chin and raising her teary eyes to meet his cool expression, he took in the features that made him keep her as one of his ‘women’ in the first place. He just really couldn’t do much to someone that resembled **her**._

_“You are quite lovely, girl...” He commented with a hum. “But, should Mei die...it will be your life to pay.”  
_

_A frown tugged at the second-hand, not that it could be seen with the bottom part of their face being covered as well as the dimness of the room for further masking. Diverting their sight away from their master, they took note of a certain lieutenant-general carrying an unconscious Mei away, a nameless emotion flickering in their teal-coloured eyes._

_“Follow him to the palace.” The man followed their line of vision. “If Fujioka can’t make the antidote in time, intervene.”  
_

。。。。

A snake tattooed hand brushed back the sweat-dampened raven hair of the girl in mention, her face pale and breath heavy as one could see she was in a great deal of pain.

Ryusaki hadn’t even changed out of his disguise yet, having immediately gone to see Asahi Fujioka with not a second wasted.

“Han oil is simple enough to obtain and of which I have plenty already,” the ageing man’s brow was creased in great concern as he addressed the worried younger man next to him. “But Orchil powder is not.”

The third-in-command’s golden eyes were agonised as he ran his hands through his dark hair before crossing them underneath his arms and looking away. “What is that supposed to mean? A  _royal_ physician doesn’t have a necessary medical ingredient on hand?”

“It is a rare thing to get a hold of, Ryusaki. And even if I could send for it, it wouldn't arrive nearly within the time we have.”

The normally nonchalant and easygoing nature of the royal in all but name was nowhere to be found in his troubled look as Mei coughed, her breath quivering in short, painfully quick gasps every time she inhaled.

_“At most...I have only one...hour...”_

Clenching his fists, Ryusaki couldn’t remember the last time he felt this pitiful. It seemed as though the very people he wanted to protect the most would always end up being the ones he would have to lose.

。。。。 

Time was passing by quicker than it normally would have under such duress, a masked figure thought to themselves as they watched over the scene from the shadows, doubting that that girl would last another five minutes. 

Clenching their hand around a bunch of their form-hiding clothes, the usual feeling of jealousy washed over them to know what lengths their master would go to in order to keep that girl safe.

He had only bothered to show up to that meeting when he heard that  **she** would be there, had them deliver letters back and forth between the two, had all the men involved with  **her** kidnapping killed off immediately and not to mention the sole reason he allowed them in particular to be so close was because they shared a resemblance to  **her**.

And now there they were, in the very midst of their enemies’ palace in order to be sure that  **she** would receive the antidote she needed.

“Haaa~” They exhaled, looking off to the left as they realised that they would have to act now...to rescue the woman he was in love with...which wasn’t them. 

The infirmary was near-deathly silent as Ryusaki had left the room, standing outside the door too overcome with guilt to watch her final moments while Asahi Fujioka was off getting Mei's family to be there for her last minutes. Slinking in through the window, the masked second-hand walked over to the hard wooden bed which stood in the room which the dying girl had been placed on, standing over her as they watched her struggle to breathe for a second.

It really would be so easy to just let her die.

Shaking their head at the irritating thought which echoed in the back of their mind in that cruel, spiteful jealous way that all women seemed to have woven into their nature, or so stories were told, the figure slipped a hand into their cross-collared shirt to pull out a small jar of a fine powder before administering it. 


	2. She's Gone

“That so-called Blood King’s bride disappeared overnight, you say?” The visiting foreign prince’s hand still over his canvas, his eyes lighting up with a certain pleasure at hearing such news.

“Yes, brother,” His younger sister nodded meekly as she narrated to him the events that were unfolding outside the room. It almost seemed as though she was greatly frightened of him but kept her formal etiquette up to mask it.

“They say she just went missing into thin air last night although there were people just outside the room and soldiers all throughout the barracks. Seems more of a mystery to me than anything.”

“Hmm,” He mused as he dipped his brush in water to clean it, the red paint being diluted in the cup and turning the water red. “I wonder if _that_ man had anything to do with it...well, no matter. If it was him or I, she was bound to be removed at some point.”

“Hopefully this just means I won’t have much else to do with that dangerously unpredictable sort of man.”

Standing up and smoothing down his green robes, he offered the crook of his arm towards his sister which she took with very controlled movements before they headed off to have breakfast, the prince being in one of the best moods he had been since coming here, the chill of the incoming winter not bothering him in the slightest.

。。。。

Groaning as she blinked awake, the beautiful raven-haired girl’s head felt sore as the pangs of dizziness rose like waves threatening to overtake her consciousness.

 _Where am I?_ Mei looked at herself absentmindedly, then around her, and seemed to startle fully awaken as she noticed that she was once more in an unknown setting, although this time around it wasn’t blurred by her drugged senses and she seemed to be clear of mind.

The memory of her falling unconscious with her gifted dagger at Mutsu’s throat hit her as her first thought was as to whether of not the mission went down accordingly since she did black out before it was truly completed.

Once more, the back of her head throbbed painfully as she sat up too quickly, swinging her legs over the side of the bed she was laid upon. _By whom though?_ She pursed her lips as she took in the room.

Looking around the grandiloquent room, it was very clearly not a humble abode, showing in its finery and foreign design, the owner obviously being someone of wealth or high-status.

The late afternoon sunlight came in through the wide windows and a french door which seemed to led out to a balcony, which made Mei stand and make her way to hesitantly, pushing open the glass door with a click sound and walking out.

As she looked down to see the wide expanse of the grounds below, bordered by a dense bronze and orange forest that she couldn’t see the end of, a sense of dread came over her as she felt the harsh winds from both the season and height she was at against her bare leg and uncovered chest.

The normally steady and metronomic beat of her heart seemed irregular, which caused her to feel sick, stumbling backwards as the pounding echo of a sound seemed loud enough to hear for her.

Her thoughts started to accelerate inside her head as she tried to gather why she was in this strange place instead of in a teahouse, taking custody of a drug-smuggler, forcing down any panic with rational recollection and attempted deduction.

 _First things first, I should figure out where I am…_ Mei’s eyesight travelled towards a door on the side of the room, which she slowly opened and poked her head out of. Once she saw no one within the immediate vicinity she snuck down a red-carpeted long hall and down an unbelievably long spiral of stairs.

She gathered that she was in the highest point in the building, a stretch of five or six flights from the bottom of the stairwell. The place was massive, and she had surmised that it was definitely royalty, although foreign from anything she had seen from the more northern stretches of her own home kingdom.

Although she had been walking for quite some time now, going completely down and peeking at some of the gardens in what looked like a courtyard, she oddly hadn’t come across any people yet, though she did hear some chattering coming from further beyond the gardens, making her steer clear of going fully outdoors.

As for the actual building itself, it seemed rather ethereal, beautiful crafted and yet seeming as though it hadn’t been touched by human hands, red sheer curtains fluttering delicately with the breeze that was coming in through the open hall’s columns. 

The shadows grew longer as the afternoon sun descended further downwards towards to horizon, a golden glow filling the hall as a tall, masculine figure watched her make her way down the hall with a rather entertained smile. 

"I see you're finally awake."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story for the first couple of chapters will have to follow the actual canonical plot for a while before it can head on its own direction in order to get the feeling right. I'm trying to keep everything as far away from being "ooc" as I can, so do please bear with me.


	3. Guilt-Ridden Thoughts

A frost seemed to have settled over the palace citadel, matching the chilling feeling that had extended over the grounds. Though it was the autumn season wherever you were on the Great Continent, the north always had the harshest colds, showing in the visible clouds of breath that the patrolling black and red uniformed soldiers made underneath the five-story central tower.

While technically they weren’t in the furthest northern regions, the biting winds always blew down towards them in the mid-central province, where the capitol was located.

Looking down upon the scenery, though not paying much attention to it, the two halves of the ‘Blood King’ persona stood on the wrap-around balcony just overlooking the grounds below.

The little grip they were able to exercise over their own continent-wide reaching Kingdom, with the constant flux of assassination attempts and rebellions in the east, north and especially south where the Hebi Gang was strongest, was made apparent by their inability to keep just _one_ person from being kidnapped from their own palace, a thought which visibly infuriated the white-haired man, who really only became so quick to temper and irrationality when people he cared for were put in harm's way.

Unlike his younger brother, however, the raven-haired eldest kept his feelings off his face and to himself. While Katsu had to use a physical mask to hide his emotions well enough, it was as though Ryusaki had his own permanently etched into his face.

“She’s gone, Katsu.” The golden-eyed half-king finally spoke his guilt, the wind being sharper and more biting as they were higher up off the ground.

“We failed to protect her, thus making Daisuke’s worst fears come to life.” Ryusaki ran his hands through his dark hair, that ugly feeling of guilt settling in his chest once more as it often did once he was left alone for too long with his thoughts.

“So much for the oath we took.”

。。。。

  
“Calm yourself, Sanjirou.” The elderly royal physician implored the worried-to-death patriarch of the Kihara family, who was pacing the room in a fury that ill-suited his tactician type mind.

“How can I be calm when my daughter is in the hands of that madman?” His blue-grey eyes which seemed worn down from the many events he had witnessed over the years, looked disbelieving at the inappropriately relaxed man.

“With his suspicious role in Daisuke’s death, how can I take comfort in her being with him?”

Asahi Fujioka frowned at the mention of his former ward for a moment, stroking his long snow-white beard as he seemed to be thoughtful for a moment. “Truth be told,” The elder spoke after a second of silence. “I don’t think she’ll be _un_ safe with him.”

Sanjirou was now looking down at his father figure as though he had gone insane. “Oh, really? And have any of his previous actions proven that he won’t?”

“Yes.” The reply was so blunt, Sanjirou had to blink at it.

“I did take care of the boy for most his youth so I’d like to think I can understand his way of thinking somewhat. When it comes to your daughter, I doubt Yuuta would harm the person he had practically started his rebellion for.”

“That again. You don’t honestly believe that do you?”

“That he was in love with her?”

“No, not that. It was obvious enough he took a great liking to her when they met. It caused us enough trouble.” The last sentence was added as a side thought. “You believe that he started his rise to power for her?”

Fujioka sighed gently at the thought, shaking his head slightly. “You are still underestimating how much he was possessed by her. Daisuke recognized it, which is why he took the threat Yuuta posed a lot more seriously than anyone else did.”

That really was the thing with people in love, they were just as every bit dangerously unpredictable as a madman. They didn’t love simply, or kindly, or within reason...at least not this particularly dangerous, infatuated man.

Sanjirou looked uncomfortable in his worry as he remembered the anarchist group’s origins which started six years ago and led to the war started three years later in which he lost his first-born son.

It truly was astonishing to witness the charisma and capability that one person had to be able to escape and run away with nothing to starting an organized anarchist group and then building an army which was able to have the Blood King’s own imperial military on its back foot all within six short years.

There was no doubt he was motivated, that’s for certain. The only question was ― just how far did his obsession go?

**Author's Note:**

> There, I’m not a fanfiction writer by any means but I did one for that prompt I put out on what would’ve happened if Kôzuke had intervened. I’m planning on doing multiple short parts to this (really slowly, lol) but thought I’d just throw it out there. 
> 
> By the way, that last paragraph of Ryusaki's was a reference to that line in Episode 021: 
> 
> Mei: “Is that how you started? Pitiful like me?”
> 
> Hayate: “...No...I was much worse off.”


End file.
